GRF 2026, Sunday

 Had another good night’s sleep … the temperature in Western MA was perfect and the air was clean, no need for air conditioning.  Woke up to another mostly sunny sky with a Western wind, though not as strong as yesterday.  Bagels and iced tea, then chatting with friends as we all packed our cars, and off to the Festival again at about 10:30.

Got another great parking space in the shade, and we were about 50th(??) in a rapidly growing line that started moving right at 11:00.  Set up our chairs at about the same place at the MS, and then started wandering around.

First up was Deloyd Elze (four syllables, hard ending “e”) at the BPS.  Though he also had the same old guitar, guitar, bass, drums, keyboards band as everyone else, his instrumentation was a little more eclectic with his rhythm guitarist playing a tenor guitar, and both Deloyd and the keyboardist set up with effects boards.  In fact, the keyboardist really didn’t do much besides twist knobs and gyrate.  Pretty good set though, some gritty songs and heartfelt vocals.  Angela Autumn (next up on that stage) sat in for a few songs.

Wandered over to the MS and was captivated by Tyler Ballgame.  I went right up front for him.  He had a keyboard accompanist but the astounding instrument on stage was his voice, just incredible range, control, and technique.  He could slip (seemingly) effortlessly into falsetto, back to baritone, and back to a tenor that was higher than his falsetto.  He did all originals (at least, songs I didn’t recognize), and was just a perfect, mellow act letting it all hang out before the crowds arrived.

Swung by the DBS for a few tunes from Nour Harkati, who has a nice voice, plays North African rock on the guembri, and had a frame drum player.  Then back over to the BPS for a few tunes from Angela Autumn, who plays a bit of country rock and had another band consisting of guitar(s), bass, and drums.  Then after a beer and food break, back to the MS for Hooray for the Riff Raff, more enjoyable folk punk rock with guitar, bass, and drums.

OK, time for a bit of a change and got over to the DBS in time to get right up front (next to Scott, who was there already) for Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek.  Derya had an electric bassist (who played electric guitar on a few songs), a keyboardist, and a drummer, but the main instrument was her on the bağlama, a fascinating instrument.  And her keyboardist was pretty out of the ordinary himself, taking many leads on a spooky, warbly setting.  They’re based in Germany and played music from the Turkish diaspora, none of which I recognized but that I loved.  She got such a surprising, bright, nimble sound from her bağlama, which looked like it only had three strings, but some of them may have been pairs or trios??  And she got such great volume from it over the PA, though it was mysterious how it was miked.

Back to the MS for part of the set from Lucius, a veteran pair of singers who intertwine voices on pop blues songs (accompanied by another Festival 2026-standard backup band), making a complex, layered sound.  They’re very hit or miss.

But then I hustled right over to the BPS to get up front for the act I most wanted to see, Ken Pomeroy.  She (McKennan) is a young (23) folk/country singer/songwriter from Oklahoma who plays an acoustic guitar and was accompanied by her partner, Dakota McDaniel, on lead acoustic.  She’s written some wonderful songs (Cicadas, Flannel Cowboy), has a surprisingly glib stage presence for a young folkie, and plays a beautiful guitar.  McDaniel played a fantastic lead, taking Ken’s strong images and wafting them away into the wind, and then winding back to the next verse.  And the best part is her voice, which is smoky and hesitant, but also catchy and at times as strong as her lyrics.  The crowd had really filled in at the BPS, elbow to elbow again, and she got many whoops and hollers when she hit the crescendos of her songs.

Several of our friends were there for Pomeroy’s set … I had recommended her … and we all gathered and gushed about her for a while.  It was about time for us to wrap things up, though there were a few sets left on that Sunday, including J Mascis, who was already setting up on the DBS while we talked, and whom I regretted missing.

Got some dinner and then sat at the main stage and enjoyed most of the set from Wednesday, a country-ish band that features a pedal steel and some nice singing.  But after a while it was time to take off.  Folded up the chairs, stopped by our friends’ tent to say goodbye, and then stuffed everything in the car and hit the road back East, where our kitties were waiting.

So how was the GRF this year?  The weather was perfect, mostly sunny and warm with enough wind to take the edge off (there was a short shower one day).  It was great seeing our friends again, staying at The Rose, and enjoying some fine food from the vendors.  But it got alarmingly crowded in the Fairgrounds, on one of those roasting days it may have gotten beyond alarming.  And for the bands you really want to see you have to get to the stage early, not the way it used to be.  The sound was as great as ever, and there were a few great acts.  But the Festival no longer features the variety and quality it used to.  There was not even one bluegrass band!  Almost every band played some variant of rock and featured guitars, bass, keyboard, and drums.  I like rock, and I like this instrumentation, but I also like banjos, mandolins, fiddles, etc.  So I had a good time and will do so again … there are good things about the Festival but there’s a lot they could do better.

GRF 2026, Saturday

 Slept well and woke up to another great day, but with an already strong West wind.  Had some bagels, tea, and orange juice that we’d brought and traded notes with our friends about what to see that day, and what not to see.  We packed up and got going around 10:30, got a parking space in the shade when we got to the Fairgrounds, waited just a little bit in the line until the gates-open at 11:00, and then got a fine space to the left of the soundboard, back about 8 rows from the Standing Room section.

Wandered around a bit and got a nice tie-dyed shirt from one of the vendors, then grabbed a beer and headed over to the DBS for The Animeros at noon.  They’re a Latin rock band with a guitarist and bassist on vocals, a keyboardist (who also played the kind of melodica that has a hose) and drummer, and a conga/bongo player who looked just like Sunny War’s drummer, though he probably wasn’t.  Great start to the day, and the highlight of their set was a cumbia-delic (new word!), instrumental cover of Ghost Riders In the Sky … very spooky but danceable.

Over at the MS was Greg Freeman next, whom I had panned in my spreadsheet, and so everyone (except me) wanted to see.  I was elucidated when the texts started pouring in that he was as bad as I’d described.

Got some late lunch, waiting for what I really wanted to see, which was Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars back at the DBS.  They play a New Orleans standards/funk/space mix with Sally on lead acoustic and vocals, a keyboardist, stand-up bass, and an incredibly talented horn section.  Enjoyed their eclectic set very much (I love Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab), though unusually they were a bit tamer live than in the videos I’d seen.

The next few acts were “maybes” on my spreadsheet, and so I went back to the car and got a nice nap in.  The day had started off perhaps more chilly than expected because of the strong wind, but the weather was just perfect at this point.  But at the same time, the Fairgrounds had become kind of oppressive!  The Saturday crowd had filled in with a vengeance, and the entire area was packed with people, there seemed to be barely a square inch left where late arrivers could set up their chairs or pitch their tents.  Every vendor featured a long line, and it was impossible to stroll around, you had to concentrate on where you were going or you wouldn’t get anywhere.

Anyway, made it back to the MS for Kurt Vile and the Violators, who were another very entertaining rock band with a guitar, bass, keyboard (who also had a trumpet), and drums backing up Kurt on lead guitar.  He’s an extraordinary player, and his techie brought out a new guitar for every song, it seemed.  They do some pretty simple rock and then Kurt takes over and plays very unexpected and complex leads.

Pushed back through the throngs to the BPS to see Folk Bitch Trio after that.  I was looking forward to seeing them, but you could barely get anywhere near the stage because of the elbow-to-elbow people.  Caught a few songs anyway.  They’re a trio of Australian women (as their name hints at), but for once the sound was just not done right.  They do very reverb-heavy, moody songs and their sound was turned up so loud it was almost distorting, adding to the feeling of antsiness the crowd was bringing.

But … the most anticipated act of the weekend was up next at the MS, The Beths from New Zealand.  They wowed the packed Fairgrounds with their kaleidoscope of indie pop rock sound and excellent songs, all written by their “front-man,” Liz Stokes.  They opened with Straight Line Was a Lie and did their great No Joy (with recorder break).  This was my first time seeing them, and I was so impressed.  Besides a great guitar sound (Liz plays rhythm acoustic, Jonathan Pearce is on lead electric, Ben Sinclair is on bass (and writes a fun blog, and Tristan Deck is on drums), their vocal mix is extraordinary.  Liz is an alto, and the guys back her up with psychedelic, overlapping high harmonies.  Every second of their set was a delight, and their recorder launches showed a lot of practice.

The crowd was finally starting to thin out a bit, and I was able to find an ok place to stand over at the BPS for Ratboys, another guitar/bass/drums rock band.  They’re led by Julia Steiner on vocals and rhythm (she played a string of flying-v electric guitars) and vocals, and were definitely good, would have liked to see more but …

I had to grab some dinner and then get back to our seats at the MS where the night’s headliner, Spoon, was about to start.  Believe it or not, they’re another rock band that featured basically the same instrumentation as I’d been seeing all day, but this time they had three guitars on stage and were playing some good, crunchy songs.  But wait … one guitarist switched to keys and then another one did, and gradually they changed to an atmospheric, prog-rock sound and went downhill.

Oh well, that was enough and it was time to fold up our chairs and get out of there to beat the traffic.  Back to the Rose and we gathered down at the picnic area, Aldo delivered us a pile of firewood, and we talked and talked.  I took off around midnight, but the party was still going strong and I think some of our group must have been there for another couple of hours.

GRF 2026, Friday

 Time for the Green River Festival again!  It was another fun weekend and the Festival is now seemingly very settled into its new digs at the Franklin County Fairgrounds.  They’ve adjusted the placement of the stages, vendors, and activity/cool-down tents and have gotten everything pretty much exactly right, minimizing the sound bleed from one stage to another and maximizing crowd flow and comfort.  Here’s an article from the local paper.

One thing we didn’t like but that is understandable is that they keep moving back the line where you can set up chairs in front of the Main Stage, for the sake of expanding the standing room area.  The line is now well behind the sound tent, but we were still able to see ok, and the standing room area still wasn’t big enough for the crowds wanting to see the major acts.

But speaking of acts, the quality of the lineup continues to go down IMO.  They had a couple of great bands this year and several very good ones, but it’s still nothing like the past, when the lineup featured many acts I was excited to see.  And they actually had *no* bluegrass bands this year and only a few alternative acts, most bands played some flavor of rock.

Dave drove up on that Friday, the 19th, and we threw everything in the car and headed West on a beautiful late Spring day.  Made it to Greenfield and had lunch in an over-air-conditioned People’s Pint, and then cruised out to Shelburne and checked into our room at the Red Rose.  Unpacked and got geared up for the Festival, and then back to the Fairgrounds, where we got a parking space in the middle of the field, but still close to the entrance.

Though I complain about the quality, they did have a large number of acts this year and actually started at 1:00 on Friday, but we showed up at our normal time (about 2:00) and missed the first few.

After setting up, I hurried right over to the Back Porch Stage (BPS) and caught some of Luke Tyler Shelton’s set.  He played some good folk/rock tunes with just a drummer and a bassist.  One thing the GRF has always done well is sound, and I was surprised to see only a couple of dinky speakers up on stage, though the band had sounded great.  After the set I talked to the sound guy and he pointed out that they also had large stacks of speakers behind the curtains flanking the stage.  He told me there would be no problems with sound at that stage, and for some later acts they even had it cranked up too loud!

A live radio show had taken over the Main Stage (MS), but what I really wanted to see was Southern Avenue over at the Dean’s Beans Stage (DBS) next.  Got up pretty close for them.  They’re a blues rock, family band consisting of three sisters who got their start singing in church, a husband on guitar, and a brother-in-law on bass.  Two of the sisters were up front singing, while the third played drums.  Their energy was very high, their mix was great, and their songs were infectious … a great opening act.

Over to the MS for some Southern rock from Kashus Culpepper after that.  Though his bass player dominated the sound too much, Kashus has an excellent voice and a mellow guitar, and was very enjoyable.  I moved up front for a few songs and then was about to peel off when they started on the intro to Whipping Post.  They kind of flubbed this classic, but at least they tried!

But what I really wanted to see was Sunny War back over on the BPS.  Got there in time to stand up front and was joined by Dave.  I had seen some videos of her and was amazed, and live she was just incredible.  She plays a punk folk blues on her acoustic and was accompanied by a drummer.  She picked with her thumb and occasionally forefinger, and her left hand was mesmerizing, moving all over the fretboard like an octopus.  Part of her talent was that she could quickly pick and then damp each string with her right forefinger or her left thumb, coming over the neck.  And her voice was remarkable too, she sang with such dedication that her face distorted, forming each note perfectly.  Besides her technical talent, her tone and volume were just so impressive.  She gets an A+.

That was a gem, then back over to the MS for one of the big acts, The War and Treaty.  They’re a husband and wife who croon R&B/soul tunes to each other, backed up with a great band that included a small horn section.  Very good range of sound from some ballads to some stompers.

Caught a few tunes from Swamp Dogg over on the BPS on the way out to the car for a break.  The crowd had really filled in by then and the BPS area was packed tightly.  He had a good band, but I didn’t find him that focused.

So I walked over to the DBS for Lila Iké, who plays textbook reggae, and I was very impressed by this band.  She has a wonderful voice that she controlled well.  She had a strong guitarist, bassist, and drummer whipping up the reggae sound, and a keys player with a whole array of keyboards/switches who was filling in the background with a pleasing variety of riffs in a wide range of tones.

OK, it was starting to get dark, but we were still in the gloaming when Charley Crockett came on at the MS with a full, big league, Nashville presentation, including his name up in flashing lights and big hats.  The Friday crowd was maxed out for this, and the standing room area was full.  Charley played his hits, including $10 Cowboy, and the crowd ate it up.  I did too, nothing to complain about here, they had their act together and their sound was mixed very well.  He was accompanied by an acoustic lead guitar, bassist, drummer, and dobro/keyboard player who also picked up a trumpet, sometimes playing the keys with his left hand while he played the trumpet with his right, very well done!

We screwed out of there to beat traffic before his set was over.  Back at the Red Rose the usual suspects assembled around the fire pit.  There was a group already there who were in the area for an annual Tai Chi event, but they were about to go to bed as we started arriving.  What fun to see friends who were just kids when we started going to GRF 17 years ago, and are now grown up.